Fewer kids are going to college because they say it costs too much

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/14/fewer-kids-going-to-college-because-of-cost.html

Published Sun, Mar 14 202110:00 AM EDT
Jessica Dickler
@jdickler


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“I grew up with not a lot of money and that was a fear of mine — the money,” he said. “I would not be able to feasibly pay for college.”

Instead, Neuharth enlisted in the National Guard with an eight-year commitment. “This second option, this get-out-of-jail-free card, which was the military, seemed like a no-brainer.”

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A year into the coronavirus crisis, many high school seniors have dramatically changed their expectations about the future.

A recent survey of high school students found that the likelihood of attending a four-year school sank nearly 20% in the last eight months — down to 53%, from 71%, according to ECMC Group, a nonprofit aimed at helping student borrowers.

High schoolers are putting more emphasis on career training and post-college employment, the report found.

More than half said they can achieve professional success with three years or less of college, and just one-fourth believe a four-year degree is the only route to a good job. ECMC Group polled more than 1,000 high school students three times over the last year.

Even before the pandemic, families were starting to question the return on investment, said Jeremy Wheaton, ECMC Group’s president and CEO.

″There is going to be a reckoning here.″

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The price tag increasingly is a problem.

Tuition and fees plus room and board for a four-year private college averaged $50,770 in the 2020-21 school year; at four-year, in-state public colleges, it was $22,180, according to the College Board, which tracks trends in college pricing and student aid.

The significant increase in the cost of college has outpaced both inflation and — even more starkly — family income over recent decades.

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For college-bound students and their parents, a whopping 98% of families said financial aid would be necessary to pay for college and 82% said it was “extremely” or “very” necessary, The Princeton Review found.

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